How Kindle Matchbook Can Help You Sell More Books

It’s always easier to sell a little bit more to your existing customers than it is to find new customers. That’s just marketing 101.

For an author, though, it can be hard to sell more stuff to the same audience unless you write another book. At least it used to be. Now, with Kindle Matchbook, you can sell more multiple versions of your book to the same reader a whole lot easier than before.

Here’s how it works. You’ve must have your book published as both a Kindle ebook and a paperback for sale on Amazon. Once you enroll your ebook in the Kindle Matchbook Program, anytime a customer buys your paperback book, they can then buy your ebook of the same title for either $2.99, $1.99, $0.99 or even free – you get to choose.

This means you can now make two sales – a paperback sale and an ebook sale – a whole lot easier for your readers, putting more cash in your pocket and increasing your sales rankings (especially Kindle sales rankings).

By the way, you can enroll your book in the Kindle Matchbook Program with or without KDP Select so you don’t need to publish your ebook exclusively on Amazon.

Why Readers Love Kindle Matchbook

Readers love Kindle Matchbook for one simple reason – people love convenience (which is part of the reason ebook sales are exploding in the first place). And nothing is more inconvenient than buying a book that you can’t wait to read and not getting it until the next day or two in the mail (Seriously, I almost died waiting for Round Trip to arrive).

That’s why Kindle Matchbook is a great deal for readers. Many readers own Kindles and still enjoy reading paperbacks. So now they can buy a paperback and get the Kindle book at a discount, or even for free, and start to read it while they wait for the paperback to arrive in the mail.

Readers win because it’s more convenient and they can start reading sooner. Authors win because they sell more books, and get readers to interact with their book even faster. And, of course, Amazon wins because of increased sales. So the Kindle Matchbook Program is truly a win-win-win.

The Best Way to Use Kindle Matchbook

We’ve tested the Kindle Matchbook Program and found that the best option is to price your Matchbook deal at $0.99. Here’s why…

Readers are already investing in your paperback, which usually means a $10 to $25 investment. Adding on an extra few dollars can be asking a bit much. The key benefit here to authors isn’t really the extra royalty you earn from the extra ebook sale. Instead, the key benefit you get is your increased sales ranking and sales momentum for your Kindle book. That means your book will be more likely to rank on a bestseller list, and if your book is already a bestseller, it will rank even higher. And higher bestseller rankings lead to more sales from more exposure.

So what you really want to focus on with Kindle Matchbook isn’t pinching more pennies from your existing customers (even though that is a very good strategy in many cases). Instead, you simply want to get your existing and future paperback readers to buy your ebook as well. That’s why picking a very low and minuscule price of $0.99 for the ebook makes sense because it’s going to give you the biggest sales increase.

Now you might be thinking, “why not just give the ebook away for free when readers buy a paperback?” The problem with a free Matchbook ebook is that you don’t get credit for a paid sale on Amazon. Since readers are getting the ebook for free, it doesn’t count as a paid sale and therefore doesn’t increase your Kindle sales ranking. No increase in sales ranking means no improved bestseller ranking, which means no extra exposure benefits. That’s why I don’t recommend setting your Kindle Matchbook price to free.

How To Enroll in Kindle Matchbook

Watch the video below to learn how to enroll your book in the Kindle Matchbook program or follow along with the written instructions below.

Step 1. Go to www.kdp.amazon.com and login to your KDP account.

Step 2. Select your book that you would like to enroll in Kindle Matchbook and go to “Info” to edit your book details.

Step 3. Go to page two (“Step 2. Rights & Pricing” on the navigation bar at the top of the page) and scroll down to the bottom. It says “9. Kindle Matchbook.” Click the checkbox there to enroll in the program and then select the price for your Kindle Matchbook price. Again, I recommend 99 cents for your ebook price.

Step 4. Hit Save and Publish to save your changes to your book.

What Kindle Matchbook Looks Like on Your Amazon Book Page

Here’s what readers see on your book page on Amazon when your book is enrolled in the Matchbook program:

Notice the bold lettering and box around the Kindle Matchbook message that makes it stick out even more. Even though the program is new, readers are becoming more aware of it and savvy customers who own Kindles and want to read your book right away are taking advantage of it.

So, in other words, if you’re not yet using Kindle Matchbook, you’re missing out on valuable book sales.

List of Reasons Why You Should Use Kindle Matchbook

To sum everything up, here’s a list of reasons why you should enroll your book in Kindle Matchbook right now.

1. It can increase your average income per reader, giving you more income without any extra marketing.